Employers Delve Into the Weeds of Cannabis Law

April 30, 2019

Domenique Camacho Moran, partner at Farrell Fritz, was quoted in this article.

Attitudes have certainly come a long way when it comes to marijuana. A little over a quarter century ago, a U.S. presidential candidate admitted, “I experimented with marijuana,” but then famously qualified that statement with, “I didn’t inhale.” This year, a presidential candidate matter-of-factly stated, “I did inhale…I think it gives people joy, and we need a lot more joy in the world.”

Indeed, statutes and case law have evolved dramatically in the years between those two very different political admissions about cannabis use. In two-thirds of the states, residents can get a doctor’s note opening the door for them to use marijuana to alleviate certain medical conditions. And in a fifth of the states, residents are allowed to partake for their own recreational reasons.

One group of people who may be a bit less than overjoyed are those in corporate human resources and legal departments who have to figure out how to operate a business in the changing landscape. It’s challenging enough to navigate the waters in a single state, but countless companies operate in multiple jurisdictions, some in which marijuana use has been decriminalized, some where it’s just as outlawed as it always has been.

“Simply put, in most jurisdictions there is no bright-line test for determining whether the use of medical marijuana can result in the lawful termination of employment under state law,” adds Domenique Camacho Moran, partner in the labor and employment practice of the law firm Farrell Fritz in New York.